Except that EAC doesn’t have to run from startup and can be started on demand. Vanguard has to run all the time.

But yeah, Vanguards shitty behavior is known since its inception.

This. An always-on rootkit is worlds different in terms of privacy and security than most conventional ones like EAC.
(Not like conventional ACs are good for these things either, of course. But it is many degrees less invasive.)